Hundreds of angry villagers in Nakhon Phanom’s Pla Pak district Saturday tried to attack a man when he was taken to a police re-enactment of the rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl.
About 150 police had to seal off the area as more than 300 people tried to attack Rattaphon Phromwichai as he was taken to a press conference in front of the Pla Pak Police Station and then to a crime scene re-enactment near a creek. The girl’s body was discovered there on Jan 4.
The 19 year old has admitted he raped and killed the girl on Jan 3 after drinking liquor and watching pornography on his mobile phone.
The victim, who was Mr Rattaphon’s neighbour, was seen riding a bicycle in front of his house that day. He allegedly talked to her and tricked her into going with him to fish in the creek.
“She came with me because we knew each other,” Mr Rattaphon said in front of the crowd yesterday.
At the creek, he allegedly grabbed the girl by the neck, gagged her mouth with his hand and punched her in the face until she passed out.
During the rape, he said, “I heard a coughing sound. At that time I feared being caught, so I decided to drop the girl’s body into the creek and walked home as if nothing had happened.”
His words further infuriated the angry villagers, who tried to attack him when police took him to the crime scene. About 30 police had to form a circle around Mr Rattaphon and battled the crowd on their way to the creek.
Following the re-enactment, police quickly took Mr Rattaphon to a car and started to leave the area. However, two men managed to break through the police cordon in an attempt to reach the suspect, but they only managed to kick the back of the car. Another 10 angry villagers also tried to get to the car, but were blocked by police.
Mr Rattaphon narrowly escaped village justice, but is facing two charges for allegedly raping and killing the girl.
He had recently been released from jail where he served three months on a robbery charge and has now committed more crimes, police said.
Meanwhile, a garbage collector at Tawanna shopping centre near the Saen Saep canal yesterday spotted the remains of a foetus in a plastic bag next to where the centre’s garbage is left. An initial inspection by police found the foetus, whose gender has not been determined, was a little more than four months old.